British drivers rue lack of speed in Tata trucks racing

Greater Noida: Top British drivers taking part in India’s first ever truck racing championship here are finding it tough to be enthusiastic about the big machines which they say are much "slower" than what they are used to back home. The modified Tata Prima trucks have a top speed of 110 kmph, a far cry from the norm in Europe.

The drivers’ line-up includes multiple British champions who will strut their stuff on the 5.14 km Buddh International Circuit (BIC) here Sunday. The championship has only one round comprising two races. “The rules are the same for all drivers and we will see what happens. But what the organisers can do for the future is increase the power in trucks. It is a lot slower than what we are used to,” reigning British Champion Matt Summerfield told IANS news agency on Saturday. Though the top speed of the trucks in Europe has been reduced of late for safety reasons, the drivers can still go as fast as 160 kmph. One reason for more speed is that the trucks are specifically built for racing whereas 22 modifications have been done on the road trucks here. The drivers said they could have done a lot more with more speed on a Formula 1 track like the BIC. “You can’t really do much with these machines, especially on the long straights. They don’t go beyond 100 kmph and you feel like a sitting duck on the straights. They are slower at corners therefore not making it challenging for us. Hopefully, we will see more powerful trucks in the future,” Brian Burt, who finished second in the 2013 British Truck Racing Championship (second division), told IANS. Tata Motors claim their safety and performance standards comply with the British Truck Racing Association (BRTA) guidelines. Sunday will see 12 Britons behind the wheels of trucks weighing six tonnes each battling it out for the championship.